Scotland Travel Tips: 15 Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Scotland promises unforgettable adventures, but even the best-planned trips can be derailed by a few common mistakes. In this episode, we reveal fifteen pitfalls travellers often make and share practical advice to help your Scottish journey run smoothly.

Here are just some of the mistakes we discuss:

• Visiting Edinburgh in August during the Fringe Festival or Military Tattoo without booking accommodation and restaurants well in advance
• Underestimating the impact of midges in the Highlands and islands during summer
• Forgetting how unpredictable Scottish weather can be — even in the middle of July
• Limiting your trip to just Edinburgh or Skye when Scotland offers so much more
• Attempting to squeeze too much into a short itinerary, especially on long drives like the NC500
• Failing to secure accommodation, ferries, or restaurants months ahead in popular destinations
• Assuming driving is the only way to explore Scotland, instead of considering scenic train journeys
• Not packing layers and waterproofs for every season
• Calling Scots “English” or mispronouncing place names like Edinburgh (“Edin-bra”) and Glasgow
• Skipping traditional Scottish food and drink, such as haggis, neeps and tatties, a full Scottish breakfast, whisky tastings, or even Irn-Bru
• Rushing instead of allowing time to slow down, soak up the atmosphere, and connect with locals

If you’re planning a trip to Scotland, don’t let these simple mistakes spoil your adventure. Take the time to explore beyond the tourist hotspots, prepare for every kind of weather, and immerse yourself in the culture, history, and warm hospitality that make Scotland such a special destination.

📝 Show Notes - Episode 169 

🎧 Listen to next

• Episode #145 – Exploring Scotland by Rail: Edinburgh to Inverness Train Travel Tips
• Episode #140 Navigating the North Coast 500: Essential Tips for Your Scottish Adventure
• Episode #58 Edinburgh Travel 101: Essential Tips for First-Time Visitors

🎟️ Sponsored by Walks Tours & Devour Tours. Explore London with expert guides, from sightseeing to food tours.

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Transcript

Introduction to Scotland's Common Mistakes

Speaker 1 0:00

Planning a trip to Scotland, don't let a few simple mistakes spoil it. Today, Doug and I reveal the 15 pitfalls travellers often make and how you can avoid them.

Speaker 2 0:09

Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, Tracey Collins. Each week, Tracey shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation. Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.

Speaker 1 0:44

Hi everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Now I'm with Doug and he's back again to share more travel tips with you.

Speaker 3 0:52

Hello there.

Speaker 1 0:54

So, following on from our popular episodes about the mistakes first-time visitors make when applying a UK road trip or travelling by train or visiting London, we thought we'd continue that series with a focus on Scotland. Now we know, don't we?

Speaker 1 1:07

We do From our own travels how important it is to be prepared and avoid often easy to make mistakes that can leave you feeling a bit frustrated or rushed, or feeling that you've missed out on some of the best experiences. So in this episode, doug and I are going to share 15 mistakes visitors often make when planning a trip to Scotland, but of course, we're going to also give you information about how to avoid those mistakes, aren't we?

Speaker 3 1:31

We certainly are. I mean a lot of the mistakes we're going to come across. We've had that as feedback from people as well.

Speaker 1 1:37

Yeah, absolutely Absolutely. So you know whether you're planning your first Scottish adventure, you're heading back for another visit. Your first Scottish adventure, you're heading back for another visit. Hopefully, this episode will give you practical tips, insider insights and plenty of ideas to help you get the most of your time in this amazing part of the UK. We both love Scotland.

Speaker 3 1:51

We really do yeah.

Speaker 1 1:52

Now, don't forget if you're interested in destinations beyond the UK, do head over to our global travel planning podcast, where we share tips, itineraries and more for many destinations around the world. Now, if there is a destination or topic you'd specifically like us to cover in a future episode of the UK Travel Plan and Podcast, do let us know via Speakpipe, because we love hearing from you.

Speaker 3 2:15

We certainly do. We love the comments and the feedback.

Speaker 1 2:17

Yeah, we do, it's really great. And we do get back to most people when they leave us a message, don't we?

Speaker 3 2:22

pretty quickly we do. Thank you, people for the trouble of sharing that feedback.

Speaker 1 2:25

Yeah, no, it's really really good. We do enjoy that. And then, obviously, finally, I do want to say a big thank you to those of you who support us every month by sponsoring the podcast. It really does mean the world to us and it helps to continue for us to bring these new episodes to you every week. But yeah, I just want to give a little bit, I guess, a background about our connection with Scotland.

Speaker 1 2:48

So I grew up not far from the Scottish border. My maiden name is McConnachie, so I do have a close ancestry from Scotland, actually from the Callander region. That's where my dad's family came from and my grandmothers were Campbell. So I have a strong connection with Scotland. And actually one of my mum's closest friends lived in Edinburgh when I was growing up, so we used to spend a lot of time driving up to spend weekends or holidays up in that area. It was just that little bit too far for me at that age and I always used to get car sick, so I always knew we were approaching Edinburgh, because usually by that point I was about to throw up.

Speaker 1 3:26

That's a good advert. And, of course, since then I've been visiting Scotland and exploring Scotland many times, many, many times, before we got married 20 years ago. And you've also got a connection as well, haven't you?

Speaker 3 3:37

Well, I've worked in Scotland on and off during my railway days and travelled extensively all around Scotland. I've got family not far from Calendagh and yeah, so we do have a connection.

Speaker 1 3:49

We're not related.

Speaker 3 3:50

We're not related. I may or may not have family connections to Scotland, but I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 3:56

Ah, okay, yeah, Okay. So should we talk about? Should we go through kind of, I guess, in themed order. That's probably going to make sense. I thought we'd start with the timing and seasonal planning mistakes that are easy to make, to be honest. So think about timing and what season you visit Scotland, because it can make a huge difference.

Speaker 3 4:16

Yeah, most definitely, so you can get extreme of any weather in Scotland.

Speaker 1 4:21

Yes, yes.

Speaker 3 4:22

Sometimes in the same day.

Speaker 1 4:25

Yes, I'll cover the weather a little bit later. I think, let's talk about popular events, actually, because we're recording this in August. This is going to go out at the beginning of, actually end of September. So we've got the Fringe Festival, which is apparently the world's largest performance arts festival, and there's also the tattoo.

Speaker 3 4:41

The Fringe Festival, I understand, does date back to around 1947-ish.

Speaker 1 4:46

Yeah, so it's been going on for quite a long time, quite a while. And it has got a worldwide reputation and it ends up with lots and lots of people. I guess, if you're not going for the Fringe, what?

Speaker 3 5:02

you need to know is that there will be lots and lots of people in Edinburgh who are that is. Any accommodation gets booked up well in advance, yeah, and it's more expensive. So you've got it I guess it's.

Speaker 1 5:08

It's what we're trying to say is it's very, very expensive. Um, accommodation gets booked up way, way in advance and it's incredibly busy, incredibly busy in august. The tattoo is also on in august as well, and now that's an annual series of military tattoos which is held in front of edinburgh castle, kind of in the square in front of the castle.

Speaker 3 5:28

Um, and we've been there when they've been putting the infrastructure up, haven't we, we have, we've seen them put in, though the the grand stands up and yeah, and it gets. When you actually watch it the tattoo on tv you cannot believe where the castle is and how small the square is and how huge it looks on the tv and how many people will fit into it as well, it's incredible.

Speaker 1 5:50

Now it is again also very, very popular and, um, that also gets booked up. So if you are planning to visit during august, be aware that if you have no interest in going to tattoo, if you have no interest in going to the fringe, I would say recommend avoiding staying in edinburgh in august.

Speaker 3 6:07

That would be mine.

Speaker 1 6:08

It's not just accommodation restaurants and cafes are also very, very busy yeah, so the other time of year that I also say to avoid. I know we're kind of focusing on Edinburgh here at the minute, but it's obvious one really is visiting during Hogmanay, which is a bit of a sore topic for me well, well.

Speaker 3 6:24

Yes, we've had a bit of disappointment there, haven't we ourselves?

Speaker 1 6:27

Yes, so do you want to explain what Hogmanay is?

Speaker 3 6:29

Hogmanay is the New Year's celebrations, which is incredibly popular in Scotland as it was once outlawed in Scotland, so Hogmanay is a big thing to a Scots person. It really is, and it's Hogmanay when they're seeing old lang syne, which you know what it translates as uh, when times passed in times past yeah, um, yeah, and we were there last year hoping for the first

Speaker 1 6:56

time to go to hogmanay yeah, none of us have been before and what happened the weather intervened this is scotland we're talking about yes, it was called off it ended up for the I don't know the first time and I don't know how many years or if ever. I'm sure it was actually called off because it was a massive storm forecast for that evening. Yeah, it was awful, so I yeah it. That was very, very disappointing, so it's still on our list it is.

Speaker 3 7:20

You know what.

Speaker 1 7:21

The weather also impacted some of my plans, which I will reveal later yeah, we'll keep mention about the weather, so we know that's going to be a whole topic. We're going to talk about another thing I guess to talk about if you're visiting so that's kind of covered thinking about the time of year in terms of what festivals, what popular events are going on. But I'm going to talk a little bit about midges.

Speaker 3 7:41

You can't talk about Scotland in summer without mention midges midges have many names, most of it unrepeatable it's true, right.

Speaker 1 7:49

So what are they? They're very small biting flies. Apparently it's on the female ones that bite, don't say anything, okay, um, but they are active primarily from late may to september.

Speaker 1 8:02

We didn't see any in sky last year, not last year no, we were lucky yeah, we were very lucky, um, and they really like it when it's damp and it's still um, so, and they swarm and they bite. So you will probably, if you do a search online, you will no doubt see people covered in them because they're and they're smaller than flies, they're smaller than mosquitoes, they are tiny and they swarm like I've seen people covered on their arms and they swarm like I've seen people covered on their arms and they're horrible I've experienced them in the past, but not very nice no, so if it's a slight breeze, you don't find them, but I honestly you can't predict whether it's going to be breezy or whether it's going to be still yeah yeah, it depends where you're traveling as well, but on the heather um popular areas you you will experience them if the conditions are right

Timing and Seasonal Planning Pitfalls

Speaker 1 8:47

yeah, I think it's about being the conditions being right, or so. Basically, I'm just saying that if you are gonna visit June, july, august in particular, be very aware that it's mid-season and you need to get something to put on to keep the midges away because, honestly, you don't want to get bitten by these things.

Speaker 3 9:05

No, very nice, so that's just something.

Speaker 1 9:06

Want to get bitten by these things? No, not very nice. So that's just something I want to mention, and the next one we want to talk about is visiting in winter.

Speaker 3 10:11

Yes, this can present a few problems. Some people not everybody, some people prefer that time of year to travel, but you have to be prepared for things being closed. I don't mean just tourist know touristy places to visit, but some of the areas you could go to.

Speaker 1 10:27

There's lots of things closed yeah, it's low season, it's, it's dark for start off because the short daylight hours, the weather is changeable and can be quite extreme. Obviously, the further north you go, the darker it gets, the colder it gets, the more unpredictable. I mean, the weather's pretty unpredictable anyway, but you know, you may get snow, you may not get snow. We've actually traveled in january, uh, to glencoe and there was a lot of snow, a lot of ice around. Um, you can also get fog. I mean, actually we were there in september last year I was not even talking in the winter spring and there was a lot of fog and mist on sky. Yeah, so you've got to consider this if you're planning to visit during those winter months. So you're going to be able to do less, you can be able to drive less.

Speaker 1 11:12

You need to be very careful when it comes to considering driving especially conditions road conditions, and it's also a time of year when there can be more storms. So you got caught out, didn't you this year?

Speaker 3 11:23

yes, I did. Anybody who follows me on train tips group they will know that I have big plans for my rail adventure in january to go from edinburgh to inverness via the uh, via aberdeen, the east coast, and then back down the highlands main line. That plan was changed because I was halfway up to Inverness and the notice came out all trains were being cancelled the following day because of the same storms yeah, massive storms. So luckily, I have vast experience in this and I made lots and lots of plans and stopped over in Inverness and looked at different ways to get back.

Speaker 1 12:01

Yeah, but it was a bit tricky. And also I remember a few years ago we were wanting to get the caledonian sleeper and I think there'd been a massive storm and the line was blocked yes, it was yeah, so basically, if you're planning around the kind of winter months I'm talking december, january, february, even in march it can be tricky because the storms, because of dark weather, because of potential snow, yeah.

Itinerary and Destination Mistakes

Speaker 3 12:19

So you really need to be very careful if you plan to visit at that time of year it is, and that's why we always recommend on consults and when we offer advice, is to build in as much flexibility in your itinerary as time budget allows yeah, absolutely don't do one night, one night, one night, that kind of itinerary, moving around a lot, because you just don't know if you're actually going to be able to yeah um, so that's worth considering.

Speaker 1 12:40

yeah, right, so the next uh theme of these mistakes that often people make is with their itinerary and destination choices. So, okay, once you've got your time sorted, you really need to think about where you choose to go, or sometimes where you don't go, because that's the other thing. So I guess and I know I've talked about Edinburgh a lot already but one mistake we see, and we understand, if you've got limited time, that you may have to choose just one destination, and the obvious one is going to be Edinburgh. We understand that, but there is so much more to Scotland.

Speaker 3 13:11

There really is. I mean Glasgow itself. I mean it's not far away from Edinburgh. I mean you're talking 15 minutes of the fastest train between the cities. Glasgow has a lot to offer.

Speaker 1 13:20

Yeah, glasgow is a fascinating city to explore. We actually have a one day itinerary on the website for glasgow, but going up to the highlands, there's other regions as well that you can go and explore. You know, and even if you so, you want to go to edinburgh and you've got a few days in edinburgh, do try to fit in a either day tour or trip by train that's right.

Speaker 3 13:40

On a website we have, uh, my train itineraries as well, circular trips as well, so you you know perth. I love visiting aberdeen. I visited many times sterling fantastic place to visit, inverness, particular favorite yeah you know, all these cities have their own identity and their own unique place in scottish history as well, so definitely worth a visit yeah, well, you've got far north scotland, you've got the border region there's just so much to Scotland honestly, which is I kind of.

Speaker 1 14:05

I'm going to mention this because often we get asked about visiting Scotland and including the Republic of Ireland as well. So I just, and again, I understand if you've only got a couple of weeks holiday, but ideally, ideally if you can devote one trip to Scotland and one trip to the republic of ireland, because these are two countries. I mean, the republican island is obviously republican violence, nothing to do with the uk, it's not in the uk, whereas scotland is its own country in itself and there's lots and lots to see in scotland there's lots and lots to see in the republic of ireland.

Speaker 1 14:38

Now, you know, if you, if you absolutely must, there are ways to get across. And you, we've actually done this ourselves by coaching ferry, haven't we?

Speaker 3 14:45

Most definitely. I was just going to say don't forget Northern Ireland in this equation as well, because that is also a fantastic place to visit the Hannan coaches. I've done several times between Glasgow and Belfast and it is easy.

Speaker 1 14:57

Yeah, very, very easy it is so straightforward. And if you really want to go if want to, don't want to go to northern ireland, but you want to go to the republic of ireland then you can fly very easily from edinburgh as well but you can get the bus over coach, over ferry over, and then get the train to you can always take the train from belfast, from belfast down to dublin, which we did last year.

Speaker 3 15:15

We have done that yeah.

Speaker 1 15:16

So I just want to encourage you really to kind of, um, try not cram too much, in which I will mention later, but it's just that there is such a lot of beautiful places to visit in Scotland.

Speaker 3 15:26

It's just stunning Every time we go.

Speaker 1 15:27

We can spend weeks and weeks and weeks there, and I still want to spend more and more time there to see even more.

Speaker 3 15:32

I often ask myself which has the nicest scenery Wales or Scotland and I have to say, both of you win for me.

Speaker 1 15:40

Oh yeah. Well, I'm going to say Scotland, so Welsh listeners are not going to be happy with me. Oh no, don't forget Wales. Fantastic place. I think it's our Scottish heritage there, probably so, yeah, now the other one I'm going to mention as well, although the mistake we see me is that often people just visit the Isle of Skye. Now we understand why, and we also have visited Skye numerous times.

Speaker 3 16:00

We have. I can see the draw to the place, to the island.

Speaker 1 16:02

It's a big island as well it's beautiful, but unfortunately it's becoming over touristed yeah, unfortunately so um, it's incredibly busy. Parking is a nightmare. Driving can become a nightmare. There's just a lot of cars, a lot of camper vans on the roads and the roads themselves are, in all honesty, in a pretty poor state yeah, they weren't great. When we were there last september, the weather had been quite rough yeah, there's a lot of rain so there's a lot of potholes.

Speaker 1 16:26

You have to be very careful. Um, so, if you can, and I understand if you want to visit sky, I really do because it is beautiful, but do consider some of the other islands, that scotland has stuff, and there are plenty of them. In fact, we've got a guide to all of the islands. Um, so, our favorite, I guess probably we loved the organ islands. Didn guess we really loved the Orkney Islands, didn't we?

Speaker 3 16:43

We really did, because it was our first visit there, so it was a novelty factor as well, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. There's only one caveat I have with all the islands other than Skye is I have to take a boat.

Speaker 1 16:55

Yeah, so Doug gets seasick.

Speaker 3 16:57

Very seasick.

Speaker 1 16:58

That has kind of impacted. So I've been to Mull and Iona and Staffa you didn't do that trip.

Speaker 3 17:08

No, no kind of impacted.

Speaker 1 17:08

So I've been to mull and iona and and staffer, you haven't, you didn't do that trip. No, no, no, no, I didn't. Um, we are hoping and we have a wave to you though you did wave to me as I went we haven't been to. So I can say, look, we have visited scotland many times but we haven't been everywhere. So, and I I can't imagine even someone who lives in scotland could say that, um, we haven't met lewis and harris, and that is an island I really want to go to, so we are gonna head there May next year, aren't we?

Speaker 3 17:23

we are as long as the water is extremely still that's always the thing.

Practical Planning and Travel Logistics

Speaker 1 17:29

When I said we're gonna go to an island, I get the look, I always get the look, and it's like, oh really, and I'm like, well, yeah, so I guess that's advantage of a sky. Yes, you can take the ferry, which we've done multiple times, but there is a bridge there is a bridge which does make it easier.

Speaker 1 17:43

Okay, so shall we move on to the next lot of uh topics, uh, which is a practical side of planning, because the way you get around, what you pack and how far you can try to travel can really kind of shape your trip. So I think the first thing we're talking about was underestimating distances and drive times and putting too much in a day certainly so.

Speaker 3 18:00

I mean particularly something like the north coast 500, which is a fantastic driving route around scotland. Um, there's such a lot to see, and trying to do it too fast, I think, is one pitfall a lot of people can fall into and I think we did that as well.

Speaker 1 18:16

I'm gonna put my hands up and say we did we probably did.

Speaker 3 18:18

It's all one of these things that works better the second time you do it. Yeah, I think you learn from your own mistakes. Sometimes we did, didn't we?

Speaker 1 18:26

Yeah, or we learn from our mistakes and we share them with everybody so that they don't have to make the same mistake.

Speaker 3 18:31

That's the way it works. I mean, we've already mentioned the weather. The weather can play a part in that as well, and it can slow you down quite dramatically.

Speaker 1 18:39

Yeah, but also the roads. If you think about the far north of Scotland, the kind of single lanes and we were there in May and there were lambs in the road and yeah, so you don't get anywhere fast. There's a lot of camper vans, it's quite a busy road and in fact, busy roads I should say what is worth listening to is we did a really good podcast episode with Robert from North Coast Explorer Tours and in that podcast he shares tips for driving in Far North Scotland. It was an excellent, really good. I've had so much feedback about how great that episode was and helpful.

Speaker 1 19:10

We also recommend Tripi Armo as well if you're driving in Scotland, because their driving guides are fabulous. Um, but I think it's just underestimating the distance and how much time, and I know we live in Australia a lot of the time and we know a lot of you live in america and you're quite happy to do a lot of driving, but I think I think it's just the. The scenery is beautiful, so give yourself the time to enjoy it, take it in, that's right um, because it really is just fabulous.

Speaker 1 19:35

It really is beautiful. You want to be able to pull over and enjoy it and take the photos and, just, you know, sit and I don't know, just take it.

Speaker 1 19:42

Just take it in um, so honestly, would you know, recommend that and try not to put too much in a day, but actually, you know, pace yourself and enjoy it. Yeah, um, the the second one is something that we get all the time. Now we understand that there's a lot of people who who like to kind of just go along and go with the flow and make the trip up as they go.

Speaker 1 20:04

You just can't do that no, I think those days of travel, particularly in these popular areas, are past well, yeah, particularly at certain times of year, I'm going to say I would mention this for parts of parts of england as well, like cornwall and other parts of england at certain times of year become extremely busy and extremely popular. Now the place I'm going to mention is I'm going to actually mention Sky, because we hear this all the time. People you know we're just going to drive and we'll get accommodation. You won't find accommodation on Sky.

Speaker 1 20:34

No, you won't, and you won't find somewhere to have dinner, probably no you've got to book months and months and months and months in advance for Sky. You need to book where you're going to eat as well.

Speaker 3 20:43

There's one months and months and months in advance for Sky. You need to book where you're going to eat as well. And one thing I want to point out as well if you're travelling on sort of shoulder seasons and winter months, lots of people on the accommodation, they're on holiday themselves, so choice of places to stop and to eat are more limited.

Speaker 1 20:58

Yeah, that is absolutely true. So I think, be really careful if you're going to like the North Coast 500 again, pop, but very, very popular. Book accommodation, book your restaurants, book your ferries, um, because you need to book ferries when they become available as well, especially at popular times. Yeah, and you're going to think some of those ferries to the islands. That's the only way for the people on the islands to get onto the mainland as well. Yeah, so you know it.

Speaker 3 21:23

It becomes extremely popular, they live their life and they also have to bulk up the. The fairies, yeah, as well yeah.

Speaker 1 21:30

So, um, you know, highly recommend it, which, obviously, sky, you can drive over, you don't have to get a ferry. We've done the ferry, as I've mentioned before, but but still, and I know, when we've booked accommodation in sky for example, we've always had it back saying have you booked your, accommodate your restaurants? These are potential places that you can eat to go to. So, um, it's worth, you know, considering those, those sorts of things, and I know that north coast 500 and when we've done other driving trips around scotland we've we've booked accommodation. Now, interestingly, when you got caught out in inverness, you were lucky to even get accommodation I really was.

Speaker 3 22:03

Yes, I mean the. I was told the um, the place I stayed at, which was a very, very nice place. If I'd arrived two hours later I would not have got that place. And because, continuing that story, it was two nights I had to stay. It wasn't just the one night, because the blanket stoppage of trains because of the storm extended to a second day. So I was very, very fortunate I could book a second night. And it was a restaurant as well, which made it easy. Yeah, that did make it easy.

Speaker 1 22:35

And actually that's a good tip, because if you're going to book a b&b, you'll get breakfast, so they've already got your breakfast sorted, so you don't have to worry about that um. So that's worth considering and thinking about. Um. Another thing which are close to Doug's heart as well here is just not assuming that driving is the only way to get around Scotland, because you can take some trains you can take some lovely train journeys in scotland.

Speaker 3 22:55

The um, the west highland mainline is repeatedly named as one of the most scenic railways in the world, and that is definitely true. I like the circular trips as well the east coast and then up the uh by aberdeen and perth and then come back down the highland mainline, which I've done many, many times, and that's not forgetting also the borders railway lines as well.

Speaker 1 23:18

Definitely worth the visit, really, really worth the visit yeah, and also that if you're based in someone like edinburgh, um, we recommend that if you're in edinburgh not to have a car, you don't need a car and only pick a car up when you actually leave in edinburgh, because we've come across this many times where people have got cars, they're doing a road trip and they don't have, they don't have accommodation in Edinburgh that actually has parking and that is a huge issue big issue.

Speaker 3 23:41

So actually, if you're based in Edinburgh and you want to take some day trips, there's so many great ones by train yes, that's it, and we've got most some listed on our website as well, and these will try to tested dozens and dozens of times by me.

Speaker 1 23:54

YouTube videos as well. Oh yes.

Speaker 3 23:55

Oh yes, we've got a YouTube video on there as well.

Speaker 1 23:58

With more to come, so yeah. With a lot more to come, yeah lots more to come, so that'll be worth looking at.

Speaker 3 24:03

Including the one which I'm putting together now about my experience with the weather came and challenged my resolve, but you know, I went with it, I enjoyed it and just embraced it. Yes, and that was your trip up to inverness, wasn't it?

Speaker 1 24:19

yeah, it's fantastic on this year, but again, you should get caught up by the weather. It can happen. Now we're talking about the weather. What else you can get caught up with is not if you don't pack layers or, honestly, even if you're going in the summer months, you may need warm clothes and especially further north you go again because the weather is unpredictable. So we were in Orkney in May and it was the coldest it had been for something like 20 years, I think. With the wind chill. It was minus 630,000 degrees. It felt like it.

Speaker 3 24:46

Even I had to take my shorts off and put some trousers on.

Speaker 1 24:50

Well, I ended up in a shop buying a massive group of furry hats. Yeah, that went over my ears. It was so cold, it was freezing. I've also we've been in edinburgh when we've arrived and we've got sunburned, and the next day I've so, so summer clothes, and then the next day I'm absolutely covered with jumper, long trousers, socks on boots, on jumper, then a raincoat and then a hat because it's gone so cold I said the day before I was climbing up arthur's seat in shorts and t-shirt that's it, so it's unpredictable.

Cultural Considerations and Food Tips

Speaker 1 25:22

So really and I know we say this all the time layers are important, but really, layers are incredibly important and I always have my rain jacket yes always have my rain jacket when I'm well in the uk, but definitely for scotland. Yeah, it's true okay, so we're on the home, straight guys.

Speaker 1 25:37

So we're finally we're going to talk about the cultural side of things, um, the little slip ups that can just trip you up a bit and easy to avoid really before you go and just so, just to help you out right. And so the first one is really don't call scottish people english. Whatever you do, they're not english, they're a proud nation with their own identity. Um, so really don't want to be called a scottish person english, really, because it they won't like it. Um, they are scottish. Um, you know we have got welsh english, scottish, northern irish that make up the uk. Um, so it's important to understand that and to respect that, and you know just everyone has their own identity.

Speaker 1 26:16

Yeah, absolutely and very proud of it. So that is really just. It's a very easy thing, just just important to know. Um, the other one is this is I just want to put this in here because we do get questions about this is that, yes, scotland does have its own banknotes, so the coins are exactly the same as the english versions and both coins and banknotes have the same denominations. However, scottish banknotes look different as they have different features and pictures but, as in England, you can't use paper notes. They're no longer legal tender. So you know, in theory, both Bank of England and Scottish banknotes are accepted across the UK. There should be, in states, pound sterling on them, but in practice, some shops and retailers in england aren't keen on accepting scottish notes. It's less of an issue in places close to the border, like where I'm from in northumberland, or in major tourist centers, but honestly it's. If you do have any scottish cash, I would get rid of it before you leave scotland um, but like everywhere in the uk these days, you know, using contactless is very common.

Speaker 1 27:17

Yeah, I mean, I hardly ever use any cash at all, but I just wanted to put that there because I know that is a question that we've had is, like you know, often we get asked what is the currency in the UK? So it's pound. It's pound sterling, same as Scotland. They just have different looking notes. That's right. The other one, I'm going to talk this whiskey, this one's for you, doug.

Speaker 3 27:36

Well, it used to be in my drinking days. Yes, I did. I was quite partial to a little Glenmorangie.

Speaker 1 27:41

Yeah, and this is just a spelling one, and it's just really that there's a difference between how it's spelling.

Speaker 3 27:47

Yeah, one's with an E and one's without.

Speaker 1 27:48

So which is?

Speaker 3 27:49

which.

Speaker 1 27:56

So the.

Speaker 3 27:56

Scottish whiskey is generally with an E, aha, okay, so I just wanted to put that one in. I'm not going to say that is a blanket across the board and you know there's no exceptions, because somebody will probably come and tell me that there is another exception, but my understanding is that is exactly as it is.

Speaker 1 28:08

So whiskey without an E is Scottish. Yes, okay, cool, yes. Now another thing we're going to just mention is just mispronouncing some of the place names. And look hands up, we all do it. We do it as well. There's some places there's always a story I always tell about. I mispronounced somewhere in Northumberland that made my mum laugh her head off, and I'm from Northumberland. So there you go.

Speaker 3 28:42

But just two common mistakes that we hear are pronunciations and I'm going to say we will. We can't pronounce them. I'm not scottish, so I've, when I worked in scotland, how many times it was. Uh, I want to say I was laughed at because I was the boss, but um but a few raised eyebrows. Well, we can't say it with a scottish bro. That's the difference.

Speaker 1 28:50

So but it is edinburgh, edinburgh, edinburgh yes right, so edinburgh. I guess what we're trying to say is it's not Edinburgh. Okay, we hear that a lot. We see it spelt without the H, and I'm sure there's plenty of Scottish people that will laugh at my pronunciation as well. Oh, most definitely but. I'm trying, but it's Edinburgh, not Edinburgh. That's the basic thing. I just think.

Speaker 3 29:10

if you're trying it, that's fine Edinburgh yeah, I think Edinburgh comes up when people from America have it as predictive text and I think it just probably changes it to Edinburgh because I understand it is a place in Texas, I think okay, it's actually said Edinburgh pretty think, pretty much thinking, huh, and the other one is actually Glasgow yeah, glasgow, yeah that's.

Speaker 1 29:32

So that's gal yeah, we often hear Glasgow and it's not as Glasgow. So just think go in, it's not Glasgow. Yeah, we often hear Glasgow and it's not as Glasgow. So just think go. In fact it's not even that, because if I was, how do you pronounce it, Doug? If it was Scottish?

Speaker 3 29:42

Glasgow or Glasgow.

Speaker 1 29:43

Glasgow. That's it Glasgow, yeah, so just.

Speaker 3 29:47

Apologies for any Scottish people listening for that terrible total dialect.

Speaker 1 29:48

I know we're going to apologise, yeah, but we're apologising for this, but we just want to say Edinburgh and Glasgow, there you go.

Speaker 3 29:55

those they'll be fine, that sounds very posh, no, but I was going to say otherwise.

Speaker 1 29:59

I can just, I can just imagine now all these visitors going to Edinburgh and Glasgow saying it with a, with a Geordie accent. So and this takes me I used to. I used to teach English and actually, because I'm from the north of of England, I pronounce my vowels slightly different. And I remember teaching some kids to speak English and actually one of the teachers from the school coming in and laughing her head off because all the kids were pronouncing all these words with a Geordie accent.

Speaker 3 30:24

Can you just say the vowels for me.

Speaker 1 30:25

A-E-I-O-U. No, you're not going to say it. There's a comedian called Michael McIntyre who does a very, very, very good sketch about the geordie accent and how we say it is here for all our vowels, but anyway, I'll actually will link to that in the show notes because it is funny. But anyway, we're just going to talk about yeah, so accents and pronunciation we get is can be difficult and challenging.

Speaker 3 30:48

Now let's talk about food, one of my favorite topics oh, I love scottish food, I have to say particularly scottish breakfast. Um, usually the elder york guest house, if you're listening, maury, thank you very much. You do the best yeah, he does now.

Speaker 1 31:00

So this is a mistake. We see, it's not trying traditional scottish food. Honestly, haggis, neeps and tatties, try it. It's amazing. It's amazing how many people we've kind of encouraged and they've got back to us and said we went to mecca's mash bar, we loved it, we loved it, we loved the haggis, uh, and honestly it's, it's worth trying full scottish breakfast, as doug said. So what's slightly different? What's different from an english breakfast? What are you going to get different?

Speaker 3 31:22

we're going to get a potato cake, which is delicious, yeah, so tatty scones yeah, some haggis yeah, haggis, what about lawn sausage? Oh yes, the flat sausage.

Speaker 1 31:31

That's very tasty yes, that's square sausage, square, flat sausage. You'll usually also get black pudding, haggis baked beans fried mushrooms, toast, the usual things. Yeah, I've also had and I've got to try and think what it was like um oats yes, we did, and in venice we had that. Yes, yeah, which was really tasty. So if you're staying at a b b um, and obviously some of the hotels as well, tried at least once.

Speaker 3 31:52

Well, yeah, do you try it, do you?

Speaker 1 31:53

try haggis. Now there are some more controversial foods that you can have in scotland, as in the deep fried mars bar that is quite famous I have tried that many years ago.

Speaker 3 32:03

It doesn't work for me no, I, I avoided it.

Speaker 1 32:06

We actually have a photo of a place in edinburgh when we're here. Well, because we stayed in edinburgh for six weeks this year and we, we were so tempted and I was like, oh no, I don.

Speaker 3 32:13

I tried it once. It's not for me.

Speaker 1 32:16

And, of course, Doug, your favourite drink when you're in Scotland.

Speaker 3 32:18

Oh, iron Brew. I live on them. When I'm up there I even cut down on the tea, which is something else for me, but Iron Brew I do really, really enjoy.

Speaker 1 32:29

I like the colour.

Speaker 3 32:30

Yeah, the colour's good.

Speaker 1 32:31

Because it's bright orange. It's a very lovely colour. It's very popular. Do try Iron Brew when you're in.

Speaker 3 32:36

Scotland. Yeah, and they do a sugar-free version as well, which I also like.

Speaker 1 32:38

And let us know if you've tried any of these foods. I want to know what you liked and what you didn't like. What was your favourite? And we've heard Iron Brew is really popular. Ah yeah, Quite a lot. It's delicious good. So by the time this episode comes out, doug will actually potentially be in Scotland, so I'm going to get some photos of him trying some of these delicious. We'll get some photos of you, maybe with a deep-fried Mars bar, I know.

Speaker 1 33:07

I'm daring you, I know, I know I'm daring you, but by the time this episode, I want to have a photo of you with a deep fried Mars bar.

Speaker 3 33:14

Check that out in the show notes, as long as I can have a breakfast as well early in the morning.

Final Advice and Episode Wrap-up

Speaker 1 33:17

You can definitely have one, okay. So we'll move on to the final tip, and I guess we've kind of alluded to it throughout this whole episode it really is not allowing time to slow down and enjoy Scotland, so trying to just tick off too many sites without really time to relax in a pub chat with locals soak up the atmosphere.

Speaker 3 33:38

Just enjoy being in Scotland. Oh, most definitely. It is such a great country to visit. There's something for everybody, really. But just embrace the whole experience yeah, I love Scotland.

Speaker 1 33:45

I have to say, if it was warmer I'd live there you've said that before, haven't you? I've said that numerous times, I do love Scotland and I guess that there's the draw there all the time.

Speaker 3 33:56

You've often said you feel an affinity with Scotland, haven't you?

Speaker 1 33:59

Yeah, definitely, and I do. I've travelled to 60-odd countries around the world and Scotland will be in the first handful, without a doubt. It has so much to offer. So do go, do enjoy it, do try to get outside of Edinburgh, outside of Skye, outside of Loch Ness, because those are the three places that everybody seems to want to go to. They're lovely places, I'm not getting you wrong, but do try and see more. There's so much culture, so much history, so much to see and do.

Speaker 3 34:28

Yeah, that's right, the history is long and I want to say complex. That makes it sound very, very stuffy, but it isn't. There is a great amount of history there the relationship with the English particularly.

Speaker 1 34:41

Definitely so. In a nutshell, get your time in right, plan your itinerary carefully, don't underestimate distances or logistics, and be mindful of Scotland's unique culture. Do that and you'll avoid the most common mistakes and have a fantastic trip. Don't forget, we've got loads of resources on our website, plenty of other podcast episodes to help you plan, including our London UK road trip and UK train travel mistakes episodes. You'll find all the links waiting for you in the show notes at uktravelplanningcom. Forward slash episode 169. So I guess we just have to say thank you to everybody for listening.

Speaker 3 35:12

Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 35:13

Yeah, if you've enjoyed today's episode, please consider leaving us a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps others find the show. But until next time, from both Doug and me happy UK travel planning.

Speaker 1 35:27

Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanningcom. If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app? We love to hear from you and you never know, you may receive a shout out in a future episode. But, as always, that just leaves me to say until next week. Happy UK travel planning.